New Kingdom: American Court Ch. 05

"Think about it. Does anything else make sense?"

"And I thought I knew everything about you and all of this," she stated waving her arms around the room, "I've known nothing!" she finished with a sarcastic laugh.

"You've understood everything you needed to know about me and how this house functions."

"Is there more?"

"There's always more. Thousands of years of history, vision and mission of the New Kingdom can hardly be explained and understood in a few minutes." Sighing with resignation, Gabriel added, "You should have some new clothes on the bed. Please get dressed; we need to get moving if I'm going to help your sister."

"Oh God," Alena said remembering the description of Iona's treatment, "Do you expect me to watch?"

"No," he answered, "I expect you to sit under Edward's watchful eye while I'm away. He is the only person that I trust to protect you.

Nodding in understanding, Alena walked into the bedroom to get ready. When she looked at the bed, a new set of clothes was laid out with matching shoes. Today's outfit was a matching black vest and skirt that tastefully combined sporty and dignified.

"I don't know how he gets this done," Alena mumbled out loud and then laughed. "The man is a freaking world army general; certainly he can relay the measurements of one insignificant human."

"There is nothing insignificant about this human," Gabriel said suddenly appearing behind her, "My human," he declared, wrapping his arms around her.

When she turned in his arms, he pressed his forehead to hers and reminded her, "Soon, my love, soon our torment will be over."

When she was dressed, they walked from his apartment to Edward's. Finding Edward sitting on the couch alone, Gabriel explained why he needed to leave Alena there while he went to Iona. Unable to speak, Edward merely nodded and gestured to an armchair that Alena interpreted as an invitation to sit. Gabriel pulled her to him for one more kiss and then left them to begin his dreaded task.

Sitting together in silence, Edward and Alena acknowledged each with a look and then dropped their eyes to their laps to begin their vigil. The long night was just beginning and although neither knew exactly what would happen, they both knew that it would be excruciatingly painful. Through their commonality of a love they shared for one woman and for one man, they began forming their own eternal bond of friendship.

Gabriel stepped from the elevator and walked down the vacant corridor contemplating his plan of attack. He stopped before the door to the white room and wondered if he could be half as calm as Edward if the roles were reversed. Shaking his head, he mentally blocked himself from reading Alena's mind and Edward from reading his. There was nothing he could do to block Edward's connection to Iona. That link would be his best friend's pain. Taking a deep breath, he turned the door knob and walked into the biggest challenge he had faced in his existence.

The sight that greeted him robbed him of his breath. The beautiful woman, whom he would have soon called sister, was sitting on the floor in the first phase of her rehabilitation. Her hair was mussed as though she had been twisted strands of it into knots. Her clothes were torn as though invisible scissors had slashed through the garment repeatedly. But it was her face that stopped Gabriel from approaching her. Her blood lust induced by the depravation and aggravated by the tainted blood, was the worst he had ever seen. Her mouth hung open, ready for any nourishment spared her way and her fangs were bared ready to attack her prey. Her eyes, wild and glinting, resembled those of the insane who had been held in solitary confinement for years. Had he not just talk to Edward, he would have thought this pitiful creature had been locked away to starve several days ago.

Resolving to be successful in this task, Gabriel looked at his ward and started the interrogation. "You," he commanded, "tell me your name."

"Please, sir," the raspy voice begged, "have mercy on me. Please feed me."

"Tell me your name," he repeated.

"I have not fed for days," she continued. "If I just had a little blood, I promise to answer your questions."

"Tell me your name," he patiently instructed for the third time.

In less than a second, Iona moved from the floor to circle Gabriel and jump on his back. As she wrestled to reach his neck with her fangs, he maneuvered her around and pinned her arms behind her back. Holding her in place, he quietly listened as she screamed and cried.

"Tell me your name," he finally commanded again.

"I won't tell you shit!" she yelled in response. "I will never break to you worthless cowards."

"Tell me your name."

"No!"

Throwing her across the room as though she were a pillow, Gabriel watched her body hit the wall and slide to the floor. No matter who called her mate, he was not about to let his guard down. Walking the length of the farthest wall from her, he continued to repeat his command. Each command was answered with a scream or curse. After several hours, Gabriel finally moved to the next stage.

"I'm leaving now. If you do not tell me your name, then I have no choice but to leave you here to starve and die alone." As he walked to the door, Iona jumped up and followed him with a sincere look of panic.

"Wait," she begged. "Don't leave me."

Without another glace in her direction, Gabriel exited the room and moved to the viewing window unseen by Iona. He watched the pitiful creature, pace the cell quickening her steps until she threw her body into the door. The sounds of bones breaking could be heard through the mirror and Gabriel cringed to think of the pain Edward was now starting to suffer. She stood with an awkward posture that indicated a dislocated shoulder. She continued walking and screaming until exhaustion claimed her and she could move no more.

Using his preternatural abilities, Gabriel kept her nervous system over stimulated denying her body the sleep it craved. At the first signs of her breaking, Gabriel returned to the room and looked down at her shivering form huddled on the floor. When he began repeating his original command, she screamed at a volume that would have damaged human eardrums.

"Why do you torment me?" she asked. "Do you know what he will do to you for this?"

"Who?" Gabriel asked.

"My master," she started and then turned her head to the side as though listening to another's voice. "No! Please don't! I've told him nothing," she begged as tears poured from her eyes.

"What is your name?"

Running the perimeter of the room, Iona began chanting, "I won't say my name. I won't say my name."

"Tell me your name."

With the power of an aged creature, she leaped on Gabriel and clawed at his face. When she managed to break his skin, she paused as she savored the smell of his blood. If her previous stage of blood lust was bad, her next elevation was almost beyond his control. With growls and hissing, she snapped at him trying to get her mouth close to his injuries that were quickly healing. Finally needing to stop her, Gabriel slapped her face hard watching her neck snap to the side from the impact.

In one final attempt, Gabriel yelled, "Tell me your name!"

Looking again to the side, Iona grabbed the sides of her head and yelled as though in pain. "No! I've told him nothing! I didn't fail you; those bastards you sent for her failed you!"

Discerning that she was at the mercy of someone, most likely a sire, Gabriel quickly changed tactics. "Tell me your name, and I will feed you."

Instantly, she stopped her crying and looked at him as though trying to decide if he was tricking her. When she opened her mouth, she stopped and turned again to the side. Her eyes opened in terror as though she were watching the most horrible scene ever. Her fear paralyzed her body as she stood deathly still watching the horror.

In all of his years, Gabriel had never witness such abuse. The tormentor could only be one of his kind with strong powers. Only the original members of the third creation had this strength. Would one of his six brethren be this cruel and betray the New Kingdom? He realized that his interrogation of this woman would render no value to him. It was the face she was seeing who had the answers.

As he pitied the woman, he watched her face distort in fear and, finally, she moved her hands out from her body as though to stop someone from attacking her. The next scene scared Gabriel.

With tears streaking her face, the young woman starting pleading, "No, please, oh God, please don't." By an invisible force, each of her fingers, one by one, started snapping and hanging in unnatural positions. The snaps beat in percussion to her screams. When the tenth finger was broken, Iona's body bent as though she had been kicked or punched in the stomach and she exhaled loudly. Before the girl could catch her breath, her body was sent flying into the wall, bones breaking on impact. The entire scene had taken less than a second, but Gabriel knew that Edward had not only witnessed the attack on his mate but had felt the pain himself. He momentarily hoped that Alena was safe in Edward's care.

Walking to the girl's broken body lying on the floor, he repeated his command, "Tell me your name."

When she did not respond, Gabriel nudged her body with his foot, rolling her over to face him. At the sight of her face, his breath caught in his throat. The elegant mate of Edward King was gone. The insane woman locked in the white room was gone. All that was left way a young woman, with large hazel eyes, similar to the ones of his beloved, covered in blood as her open wounds provided an escape for the contamination running through her system.

Knowing that his task would be interrupted soon, Gabriel took pity on the woman and knelt down to whisper in her ear, "Your suffering is nearly ended."

As the door burst opened, Gabriel did not need to turn to know that Edward and Alena were breaching the quarantine. No matter, his job was done. With sorrow for the new pain that he would now bring to the woman he loved, he looked down at the pitiful creature dying at his feet and commanded for the final time, "Tell me your name."

"My," she gasped for breath, "my name," again gasping and closing her eyes in pain. Inhaling loudly, she opened her eyes and said, "My name is Lia."